With the upcoming winter gift giving holidays coming up (and some already here…Hanukkah, I’m looking at you), I thought I’d tell you about the gifts we’re giving to the minion. I’m not going to make a simple list of the particular gifts we’re giving her, but I will explain our overarching philosophy.

Parents buying gifts for their children has recently gotten out of hand. From parents tackling each other over the hot toy of the season to families going into debt to buy the kids the latest greatest tech, not to mention the insanity of black Friday. To help us avoid that, we use this simple philosophy; want, need, made, read. That is a gift she wants, a fun toy or something. A gift she needs, clothes or something similar (we gave her coconut oil for use as a diaper cream last year). A gift one of us has handmade. And a book to read.

There a lot of different versions of this floating around some include wear, watch, dress-up, eat, create, listen to, among other things. I encourage you to decide what will work for your family. If you’re really into music, maybe you want to include a listen to. Or maybe you don’t consider clothes a gift so you’d exclude the wear. Obviously if you don’t like making things, don’t include a made. Figure out what list works for you and go with that.

Does your family have a gift philosophy or do any of these ideas appeal to you?